


Clean Up In Cell #21!

by Lacy_Star



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fainting, Gen, Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, based on the events of Ranboo's January 30th lore stream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29101422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacy_Star/pseuds/Lacy_Star
Summary: When he found out he was getting yet another visitor, Dream was ecstatic.He was less ecstatic when said visitor passed out immediately upon seeing him.---AKA: What if Ranboo DID visit Dream in prison, but just fainted and hallucinated the rest immediately upon seeing him?
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 320
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	Clean Up In Cell #21!

**Author's Note:**

> Do I know that Ranboo probably hallucinated it all and never left his panic room? Yes.
> 
> Do I find the thought of Ranboo seeing dream and fainting like a goat out of fear fucking hilarious? Also yes. And thus, this fic was born.
> 
> Please do not plagiarize or steal any of my work.

When he found out he was getting yet another visitor, Dream was ecstatic.

He was less ecstatic when said visitor passed out immediately upon seeing him.

It had been treat enough that Bad had bothered to come by earlier after days of silence, but to have _two_ visitors in a day? Unheard of!

(Had it been a day? Or a week? Or an hour? The clock wasn’t enough to tell anymore.)

He’d gotten the notice through Sam, who had buzzed in the alert that he’d be seeing someone and warning him to be on his best behavior. Dream had frantically put the book he’d been writing in back into his chest and had prepared himself. He knew it would be no less than 20 minutes for the guest to even arrive through the damn maze that was the prison, but his stomach churned with preemptive nerves nonetheless.

George? Sapnap? Bad had promised to try and persuade them to come visit him. Had they really responded so quickly?

Dream stared at the blackened floors, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides at the anticipation of harsh words or tears or violence. They could be _violent_ to him; could hit or slap or pull, though Sam probably wouldn’t like it. At the very least, Dream knew with growing dread that the experience wouldn’t be a pleasant one.

But harsh yelling was better than maddening silence. Punches burning his skin were better than the cold, absent air.

He didn’t care about George and Sapnap, of course. He merely had the most history with them. Logically, their company would be nicest. Logically, they got on the best. Logically, that’s why he wanted to see them so badly.

_(“Who do you miss the most?”_

_The question had caught him off guard, struck a root buried in him he’d tried too long to ignore. His eyes snapped up to meet Tommy’s, which were slitted in interrogation, and he blanked on the spot._

_Slowly he turned his head side to side, taking in his little cell. The heat from the lava made the boxed room into a furnace, radiating sweltering heat at him at all times. He longed then more than ever for a breath of fresh air, and all at once was dumped into a memory of staring out over clean, untouched land, rich with wildlife with two presences at his side. George, to his left, bleary-eyed with morning softness— despite it being almost noon— smiling fondly towards the mushroom and forest litter underfoot. Sapnap, to his right, with sweat beaded on his brow after the long trek, holding his chin high to the wind as he looked out on the land with satisfaction and a sense of brazen ownership. They stood on a hilltop, overlooking the greenery of their soon-to-be-claimed SMP, and the wind had been so chilly, so untainted, so_ clean _to smell it was difficult to not feel god-like. And especially with his closest friends at his side, it was hard to stifle the confidence that he could rule the world._

_The fresh breeze was replaced with that of metal and heat all at once. “I think you should go, Tommy.”_

_“If you fuckin’ say Gogy I swear to—“ Tommy shook his head, “Who do you miss the most?”_

_He cared for nobody. Who was there to miss? “I think you should go, Tommy.”_

_“No, tell me who you miss the most.”_

_Dream turned from Tommy’s piercing gaze and walked towards the curtain of lava. “Guard!” He called, “Guard!?”_

_“No— no, no, no, no no no—“ But Tommy, persistent, just followed him, “‘Guard guard guard,’” He mocked._

_But Sam had already heard. “What?”_

_“No no no, guard—“ Tommy objected._

_Dream stared at the lava and contemplated another swim. “Tommy wants to leave.”_

_Tommy rounded on him and stepped towards him, and Dream stepped back as Tommy’s— as the_ child’s _eyes gained a glint of knowing smugness, recognizing the little pot of trauma-treasure it had just dug up, and soon he’d physically backed Dream into a corner. Now teasing, Tommy repeated, “Who do you miss the most, Dream?”_

_Before Dream could respond, he continued, “If I were you, I would miss Sapnap.”_

_Dream did not, could not meet his eyes. Something snapped in him, either tendrils of patience or isolation, and he barked, “Tommy, get out.”_

_And soon Tommy was gone, and he was alone again, and that was somehow worse than being taunted and picked apart.)_

Logically, because he did not care about them, Dream should not have felt disappointed when the lava fell away to reveal someone who was neither Sapnap nor George.

Yet somehow, despite logic, he did.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to stomach those unwanted memories or feelings, as they were swiftly replaced with confusion.

Because his visitor was not Bad or Tommy or Sapnap or George or Puffy or anyone with a remote sense of attachment or relationship to him he’d expect.

It was Ranboo.

After the confusion came the sudden hopefulness. Had his savior come at last? Was this a chance at escape?

But no, he realized very quickly, because Ranboo wouldn’t have come to Sam to lead him in had he been in his other state. It would’ve raised too many questions from Sam. And even from so far away, Dream could see the fidgeting and lack of confidence in the teen, and knew instantly that he was, unfortunately, entirely lucid.

Which only made him more confused. How many conversations had he had with Ranboo while he was conscious? What was the point in a visit? What business did they have in this state?

Still, as the bridge chugged over with Ranboo on board, Dream knew he wouldn’t complain. A visitor was a visitor.

Finally, some entertainment.

Ranboo landed in front of his cell and stepped off the vessel. He turned away from Dream, watching the lava fall back into place. Dream, unable to stop analyzing, unable to stop picking apart the world and people around him for even a second, noted his hunched posture and shaking hands.

Only when the lava was drawn did Ranboo finally turn to face him. They locked eyes, and, had Dream not looked many an enderman in the eye in his life, nor been around Ranboo when he was at his most lethal, he would’ve almost felt a jolt of icy fear down his spine at the endless depths of Ranboo’s stare.

Ranboo’s breath caught and his trembling doubled upon seeing him, his pupils slitting to needlepoints as he froze.

Still utterly bewildered as to why he was there in the first place, Dream gave a simple, “Hello.”

And then, as if Dream had commanded it like a magician with the simple word, Ranboo’s eyes rolled back in his head and his legs buckled as he passed out.

He fell backwards towards the lava and Dream gave an instinctive, “ _Wait!”_ as he darted forward to catch the taller boy, because he hadn’t written for Ranboo to lose a life yet. It just wasn’t quite time.

As he pulled Ranboo safely away, something slipped from Ranboo’s coat and landed on the floor. Dream didn’t catch a good glance at it as he tried to support Ranboo the best he could, the latter’s knees practically dragging on the floor as Dream hauled him backwards. The half-enderman’s head lolled lifelessly against his shoulder briefly as Dream took a knee before gently setting him on the floor.

Creepy enough, Ranboo’s eyes didn’t close, just simply glazed over, the pupils gone so thin they looked to be slivers. But he was breathing, so clearly Dream hadn’t killed him on sight, which was a relief.

“What the hell…” Dream breathed to nobody in particular.

When he’d hoped for entertainment, this wasn’t what he’d meant.

He shook Ranboo’s shoulder to try and rouse him. “Ranboo, wake up. You good?”

Nothing. Ranboo was still trembling, but he didn’t move.

Dream briefly entertained the hope that _now_ Ranboo was slipping to his other state, as that happened usually when he blacked out. However, that usually only happened under intense pressure, Dream had observed, and Ranboo hadn’t experienced anything of the sort. This appeared to be just a fainting spell.

One with an awful nightmare, it seemed. Dream sat back and took in Ranboo’s twitching, trembling form. Occasionally his face would draw, brow would pinch, and a distressed mumble or grunt would gurgle from his throat, as if he were having an urgent conversation he couldn’t articulate with his sleeping mouth. Dream wouldn’t doubt if that was the case.

At the very least, Ranboo hadn’t gotten injured from the fall, and that was what was important, he supposed.

This was of no use. He could wait for him to wake up, but visitors weren’t allowed much more than ten to fifteen minutes, and who knew how long this would last? It would be better if he sent him off now to get better, so he could revisit when he wasn’t in a fainting mood.

He was getting ready to call for Sam when he noticed the appearance of a new object at the far end of his room. It was easy to notice; things didn’t move around his cell, and he hadn’t gotten anything new recently. Not that he’d brag, but he could tell Sam where everything sat in his room from any angle with his eyes closed (and oh, he had bragged).

As he approached it, he realized with a soar of his heartbeat what it was. It must’ve been what had fallen from Ranboo’s jacket. How had he managed to smuggle that in past Sam?

Not that Dream would complain. He scooped Ranboo’s memory book up from the ground, chuckling when he saw the classic engraving on the cover: _do not read._

Funny how Ranboo wrote that on all of his books, he thought, despite knowing time and time again how that request hadn’t been heeded.

He set the book on his lectern and flipped it open, reading through each and every page, taking his time. It wasn’t often he got a new novel these days.

Not many new additions, he noticed.

His inkwell, perched at the lectern’s corner, glinted in the lava light.

He ought to fix that, he decided.

Flipping to a blank page, he dipped his quill in the ink. Letting the feathered end graze softly over his chin, he thought to himself. Oh, how he loved to write. With his overwhelming supply of books, he’d started to lose interest. He’d started to run out of things to say. But when given such a prompt…

A prompt that lay twitching and deliciously vulnerable on the floor mere feet away…

His writer block vanished.

He wanted to write paragraphs, but overkill never did anyone any good. He needed to be more hands off, yes.

Tommy needed paragraphs for his stories.

Ranboo needed not much more than two dots and a curved line.

And that was one of Dream’s favorite things about Ranboo. Because Ranboo’s head thirsted for ambiguities and loose ends to pick at and unravel. Ranboo’s head loved to create its own endings and stories. Dream just had to give him a starter and Ranboo’s nitpicking, anxious, frantic little mind would take it and run, and would often come up with something better than Dream could have ever imagined.

And as such, Dream got his idea.

A fantastically wicked idea. So exciting he had to pause and laugh, because _oh,_ this would be good. He couldn’t wait to see what Ranboo would come up with after he read this one.

He lowered the quill and wrote:

_Thanks for the visit! You know the plan now. I’ll see you soon._

_\- :)_

Chuckling to himself, he set the quill down and let the ink dry thoroughly before shutting the book. Perfect.

Ranboo had curled into a ball, hands clenching and unclenching periodically. His breathing came out in rickety shudders, shallow and baited. Trying not to disturb him, as now having Ranboo wake would be awful for his plan, Dream slid the book carefully into Ranboo’s jacket again, careful to make sure it was secure enough to not accidentally slip out. Then he stood and walked to the lava.

“ _Guard!_ ” He yelled loudly. Ranboo, thankfully, didn’t stir.

“Yes!?” Was Sam’s distant reply.

“Uh… Ranboo fainted!”

“… _What!?”_

Realizing quickly how suspicious that sounded, Dream quickly corrected, “I swear I didn’t touch him! You can check! He just—“ He paused to stifle a chuckle, “He saw me and uh… passed out!”

“… _Christ_.”

There was the telltale sound of the lava beginning to drain. Dream couldn’t help his own smile. That was hilarious— the fact that just looking him in the eye was enough to strike so much fear into a boy that he’d pass out on the spot.

Sam rode over and Dream stood to the side to give Ranboo space. When Sam gave him a pointed look, he held his hands up and open to show he didn’t have a single weapon on him.

Then Sam leaned down next to Ranboo and did a quick examination over him, and, upon finding no injury, sighed in relief.

“Told you I didn’t touch him,” Dream chided.

“If he tells me otherwise when he’s awake, you’re in serious trouble.”

“Oh, he won’t.”

Sam scooped Ranboo up carefully and carried him out. Dream watched them leave until the lava had dropped again, and then sighed.

He turned back to his cell. It was a sweltering sauna. No fresh air in sight.

No comrades at his side.

But that was fine, he thought as he went to the clock on the wall and idly spinned it around in its case, because this wasn’t the visitor he’d wanted, no.

But perhaps it was the one he’d needed.

The others would come soon enough.

And maybe, he thought, just maybe, should Ranboo be so obedient… so creative…

He’d get to visit them before they got to visit him.

What a treat.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [Tumblr](https://lacystar.tumblr.com)!


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